Manatt's Joel Ario, a managing director with Manatt Health Solutions, spoke to Health Exchange Alert on how the Obama administration's proposed automatic renewal policy on the federal health exchange can be successful.
Health Exchange Alert reports that the proposed auto-renewal policy for consumers that enrolled in exchange plans through healthcare.gov will help mitigate potential disruptions in coverage and care, but it must be coupled with aggressive messaging that pushes consumers to shop for the best plan during open enrollment in order to spur healthy competition.
Ario told the publication that encouraging the consumer to shop is key.
"Insurance commissioners routinely produce consumer education materials demonstrating that consumers can save money on their insurance by shopping around at renewal," said Ario.
Ario sees car insurance as the best historical example, and notes that the leading brands have vigorous price competition that can produce savings of 20 percent or more.
"Yet, the reality is that most consumers do not shop and all states allow automatic renewal as the best way to prevent coverage gaps," he said. "Public and private exchanges will generate the same kind of price competition for health insurance (hopefully with more local brands rooted in community-based delivery systems giving the national brands a run for their money) and there should be aggressive public education campaigns to encourage shopping at renewal."